2l6 SINGING BIRDS. 



nearer than it really is. As soon as discovered, like the Wood 

 Thrush, it darts at once timidly into the depths of its sylvan 

 retreat. During the period of incubation, the deliberate lay 

 of the male, from some horizontal branch of the forest tree, 

 where it often sits usually still, is a ^tshe te tshe te tshe te tshee, 

 gradually rising and growing louder. Towards dusk in the 

 evening, however, it now and then utters a sudden burst of 

 notes with a short, agreeable warble, which terminates com- 

 monly in the usual 'tshe te tshe. Its curious oven-shaped nest 

 is known to all the sportsmen who traverse the solitary wilds 

 which it inhabits. This ingenious fabric is sunk a little into the 

 ground, and generally situated on some dry and mossy bank 

 contiguous to bushes, or on an uncleared surface ; it is formed, 

 with great neatness, of dry blades of grass, and lined with the 

 same ; it is then surmounted by a thick inclined roof of simi- 

 lar materials, the surface scattered with leaves and twigs so as 

 to match the rest of the ground, and an entrance is left at the 

 side. Near Milton hills, in this vicinity, the situation chosen 

 was among low whortleberry bushes, in a stunted cedar and 

 oak grove. When surprised, the bird escapes, or runs from the 

 nest with the silence and celerity of a mouse. If an attempt 

 be made to discover the nest from which she is flushed, she 

 stops, flutters, and pretends lameness, and watching the success 

 of the manoeuvre, at length, when the decoy seems complete, 

 she takes to wing and disappears. The Oven Bird is another 

 of the foster-parents sometimes chosen by the Cow Troopial ; 

 and she rears the foundling with her accustomed care and 

 affection, and keeps up an incessant tship when her unfledged 

 brood are even distantly approached. These birds have often 

 two broods in a season in the Middle States. Their food is 

 wholly insects and their larvae, particularly small coleopterous 

 liinds and ants, chiefly collected on the ground. 



The Oven Bird, like the Water Thrush, has been removed by 

 modern authorities from classification with the Thrush family and 

 placed with the Warblers. It is now known to breed from Virginia 

 and the Ohio valley to Labrador and Hudson Bay. It is abund- 

 ant in Massachusetts and the Maritime Provinces, and common 

 over its entire range. 



